Re: kernel-user separation: autofs

ralf@uni-koblenz.de
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 20:14:32 +0200


On Fri, Jun 19, 1998 at 10:49:11AM -0700, D.A. Harris wrote:

> This is likely another stupid question. But I've readed some of the debate
> on kernel, user space separation, how it is a Good Thing. And then I see
> things like autofs being included in the kernel, just on the surface at least,
> that would seem to be inconsistent with kernel-user separation. No other
> Unix system out there, that I know of, has included autofs/automount/amd stuff
> into the kernel, and it's inclusion in Linux struck me as funny, even before
> I saw the debate on this list. What benefit does Linux get in including
> autofs? And is it not a violation of kernel-user separation?

There are significant problems and artefacts with implementing the automounter
correctly only in userspace and only a kernel implementation can do these
things right. The kernel-user separation principle are not violated by this -
most of the code still is in a userspace daemon.

Ralf

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